Christmas is coming ...

There's no getting away from it - Christmas is on its way. Nothing annoys me more than seasonal stuff appearing in the shops in September and carols being sung weeks beforehand but I suppose the beginning of December is fair game. And, as we're very nearly there, I did go to a very wet and windy Christmas market in Moreton in Marsh today and actually quite enjoyed it.

But last Sunday friends came to lunch fresh from their traditional "Stir-Up Sunday" morning in the kitchen. If you're not familiar with that - the Sunday next before Advent in the church calendar is traditionally when Christmas puddings are made, though the "stir-up" strictly relates to the opening of the collect for that day, "Stir up, we beseech thee O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people ..." rather than to the culinary activity.  It started me thinking about the Christmas puddings of my childhood, made by my maternal (very chapel) grandmother ....

Nanna's Stir-Up Sunday

Her house sanctified
by the scent of cinnamon,
she sings as she stirs,
praising the Lord with puddings,
dropping her widow's mites          
into the Christmas treasury,
making her wish -

that the meek 
may inherit the earth,         
that her children may rise up
and call her blessed,
that their days may be long
in the land.

(Copyright Gill Garrett 2015)

November marches on

Well, we are more than two thirds of the way through NaNoWriMo and I'm hugely impressed with how some of my friends are doing with their novels. Keep up the good work out there! My progress with my more modest goals has been steady, though somewhat slowed by domestic circumstances yet again. But I've completed an on-line course I was undertaking and have certainly got my outstanding writing projects marshalled into better order - I know what my priorities are now (largely relating to my "Digging Up The Family" write-up) and I'm beginning to wrestle them into submission.

But poetry has been top of the agenda over the past few days. Our monthly Cheltenham poetry event, Well Versed, saw a visit from Trisha Torrington, poet and printmaker, along with her partner, Michael Henry. They have collaborated on a number of projects and it was interesting to hear their different takes in poems based on shared experiences. Then yesterday evening was the long-awaited auction in aid of the Cheltenham Poetry Festival  (especially to support its outreach work); lots varied from Antonia Gilbert's wonderful chocolate truffles, through 1:1 sessions with distinguished local poets to a solitaire diamond ring. Well over £900 was raised and a good evening was had by all.

Today I was at Poetry Swindon's workshop with the American poet Kathryn Maris at the Richard Jefferies Museum. Based on the work of Jo Brainard, the theme was "I remember" and what a fascinating seam of recollections that tapped into with the group! Little time to follow them up with much concrete output, but I think we all came away with a lot of raw material from which to work.

Kathryn Maris

The Spoken Word As An Art Form

A fun morning yesterday. I was asked to represent the Cheltenham Poetry Festival at the Cheltenham Ladies College and to introduce the poet and performance artist Rebecca Tantony, who was to run a workshop with a group of students aged 12 - 14. It was my first meeting with Rebecca, but I shall certainly see to it that it isn't my last!

It was fascinating to see how Rebecca engaged with the students and involved every single one of them in the exercises she did. There was a near riot in the Rhyming Wars game! But peace descended and concentration was etched on every face for the "What makes me me?" exercise at the end of the morning. Six brave students then volunteered to perform their poetry - which was brilliant and extremely moving. A thoroughly enjoyable session.

Rebecca Tantony

Rebecca teaches creative writing to all sorts of groups and has been writer in residence at very varied venues. I recently came across her book "Talk you round till dusk" (Burning Eye). It's a great mixture of poems, flash fiction and superb illustrations byAnna Higgie. Well worth a look if you've not seen it.

Getting out the red pen ..

Until this week I wasn't familiar with Auden's words - "A poem is never finished, only abandoned". But I was at an excellent workshop on Tuesday in which we were looking at editing - hardly sounds the most riveting of subjects, but I learned a lot of very useful lessons. Less is often more and coming back to a piece of work after some time, looking at it with fresh eyes and editing appropriately can certainly be the making of it. I've been reviewing some of my older poems since and finding many opportunities to "tighten them up" - and some do read a whole lot better for it!.

Mists and mellow fruitfulness?!

The diary tells me it's November, NaNoWriMo means it definitely is November but nature in these parts seems a little confused! Walking my dog in the woods this morning I came across catkins dancing on birch branches a couple of months ahead of their usual time, and in the garden, almost buried beneath the mounds of fallen leaves I must clear up today, my primrose was in full bloom. It reminded me of a lovely story I once read as a child about the seasons swapping their characteristics with each other and the world getting into a real muddle - who it was by or what it was called I can't recall. I wonder if anyone else remembers it?

NaNoWriMo 2015

November 1st yet again - and all over the world aspiring novelists will be beavering away to get that first draft of their novel of 50,000 words written in a month. Good luck with it, everyone!

Whilst I'm not on the novel tack, I am planning to use the month for a really concentrated focus on my writing. My first task is to actually take stock of where I am at the moment; I have had several projects on the go for a while  - these need prioritising, then whipping into shape (and hopefully - for some - completing); vague ideas for poems and plays (a couple of notebooks worth) need thinking through and fleshing out. So I'm pledging at least half a day every weekday, starting tomorrow ...

If you feel inspired to do something but are not quite sure what it's all about, do look at the National Novel Writing Month website - lots of information and encouragement there, and you'll certainly have a lot of company!

Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month